EDUCATION
156
review of the school curriculum. The overall objective of curriculum development is to provide a coherent, broad and balanced curriculum that enables students to have all-round and individual development in the areas of ethics, intellect, physique, social skills and aesthetics. The CDC began a three-month public consultation exercise in November on the proposed overall curriculum reform. It will shortly announce a new curriculum framework for both the primary and secondary levels. The framework will focus on helping students to learn how to learn. It also aims to provide students with five learning experiences that correspond to intellectual development, moral and civic education, physical and aesthetic development, community service and career-related experiences. Generic skills, values and attitudes, and knowledge in key learning areas (subject knowledge/concepts) are the major components of the curriculum framework.
To support schools in implementing the curriculum framework, the Curriculum Development Institute (CDI) will continue to provide training programmes for teachers including web-based courses, promote life-wide learning, facilitate the development of desirable learning environments, conduct relevant research and development projects, and disseminate effective curriculum practices. Moreover, the school-based curriculum development teams of the CDI will continue to provide supportive services to schools in developing school-based curricula.
The primary school curriculum has been reviewed to incorporate the Target Oriented Curriculum elements across all subject curricula. A new curriculum for primary mathematics was developed for use in schools starting from September. In order to enhance primary school teachers' abilities to implement the curriculum framework, to improve the quality of learning and teaching and to create more learning space, a curriculum package entitled 'Learning and Teaching 2000' was developed. The package includes curriculum materials and exemplars on the smooth interface between kindergarten and Primary 1, the promotion of project learning, the use of information technology, a reading culture and creativity, as well as assessment for learning. The General Studies curriculum is being revised to strengthen science and technology learning, healthy life habits, personal and social education and life- wide learning.
The secondary school curriculum offers a broad range of subjects so as to prepare students for further education or employment after they have completed Secondary 3 or Secondary 5. The CDC has developed 16 new business and technological subjects and these subjects have been implemented in schools since September. It has also suggested the gradual deletion of some 21 obsolete subjects at both junior and senior secondary levels. The sixth form curriculum prepares students for further education, employment and adult life. There are 19 subjects at the Advanced Level and 20 at the Advanced Supplementary Level. To prepare students for future challenges, relevant information technology competencies have been incorporated into various subject curricula.
Moreover, the CDC provides teaching guidelines and support materials to schools for cross-curricular studies in areas such as civic education, moral education, drug education, environmental education, sex education and AIDS education, and they have been integrated into various subjects in the secondary school curricula. The Guidelines on Civic Education, which have been implemented since September 1996, aim to enhance an understanding of the Basic Law and the concept of 'one country, two systems', and to instil in students a sense of belonging to the HKSAR, an identity